How Bizarre!

Saturday, July 5, 2008 at 6:30 pm HST

Pretty bizarre conditions for Maui in July the last few days. Light north winds persisted this last week, meaning the strongest winds were in Kihei. Talked to a visiting Japanese windsurfer who sailed Kihei on Thursday on his 5.3. He was probably 30 or 40 lbs lighter than me, so that would have been meant 5.7 conditions for me.

I kept a close eye on the wind sensors yesterday. Kihei had pretty decent readings in the mid-20s, but I wasn't desperate enough to to sail Kihei yet so that wasn't calling my name. Speedy went over sailed his 5.9 race gear though at Maui Sunset, to it was powered up 5.0ish sailing up till about 4.00 when it looks like it ramped up another 5 - 10 knots.

Kanaha and Hookipa had readings in the upper teens. Normally I need average readings of about 19 or 20 to make a 5.3 work at either place. Jazz called up at some point trying to convince me to go to Hookipa because we've had a rare out of season north shore swell running since about Tuesday or Wednesday. With readings of about 16 or 17 I didn't think it would work for me so I declined. Turns out that was a mistake. Jazz later reported that it was shoulder- to head-high and he had a lot of fun on his 4.7 (I've got about 40lbs on Jazz, so it would have been 5.3 for me). Pretty crowded apparently though. Also heard that Sugar Cove and Sprecks were "spectacular" yesterday. Guess that goes to show if you rely too much on the wind sensors, you're going to miss a few days.

Sailed Sugar Cove and Sprecks today. All indicators pointed to lighter conditions today than yesterday. But, by late morning, the Kanaha sensor was reading 20. Given that it was a race day and a holiday weekend we opted to avoid the crowds and headed to Sugar Cove.

Got to Sugar Cove a little after 11:00 and it was blowing a solid 5.0 to 5.3. I opted for 5.3 - I just couldn't believe that after so many days of light wind it would stay strong or get stronger. Turns out that the 5.0 would have been plenty and 4.7 would have worked at times. It was a bit gusty and shifty but it was great to be powered up and on the water.

Looked like Spartans was breaking so I headed upwind to check it out. Turns out the angle just wasn't setting up for down the line sailing but there were some really good head-high backside rides.

Went in to Secrets to check that out. Not really setting up there either. So, headed back downwind to Sprecks to check it out. Sprecks was maybe waist-high at best but it wasn't setting up very well there for down the line either. All in all though, today turned out to be a pretty fun day of sailing.

The forecast is saying it's supposed to get pretty light tomorrow and Monday. After today though, I'm not sure I can put much stock in the forecast. July sailing in Maui is usually just autopilot sailing. I can usually just figure that it's going to be 4.5 +/- everyday. But, it's keeping us all guessing this year. And I'm not sure which is more bizarre, super light wind in July or north shore swell in July. Climate change? Anomalies? Who knows. Bizarre? Definitely!